too many dress ups

not enough child's play

The holy gospel according to St. Mark the 2nd Chapter!

What a scene!

Word gets out that Jesus is back and in short order a crowd forms. The press of bodies is so intense it makes a barrier, keeping out anyone who would want to try and make their way to Jesus.  

And, as it turns out, there are four people who want to make their way to Jesus. The ones carrying their paralytic companion on his mat. 

They try pushing through the crowd this way and that, but make no progress.

So, after a failed attempt or two, they try something else…

The go around to the back of the house, and find a way to climb up to the roof! 

With some effort they even manage to hoist their paralytic friend up! 

Then, they start tearing off shingles and pulling up boards. Digging through plaster until they make a hole big enough to lower their friend through!

…For as wild as all that was, though, what happens next is even more odd!

Mark tells us that when Jesus sees the faith of those four, he says to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven!”

His sins?!? 

It’s the friends who demonstrate saving faith! The paralytic man hasn’t done a rotten thing! Yet, it is to that man that Jesus says, “YOUR sins are forgiven!”

How could that be? Why would Jesus say that to him?

…Last month Amanda and I saw the excellent movie, “Brittany Runs a Marathon.” It’s based on a real-life story, too. 

It’s about a young woman named, you guessed it, Brittany. And Brittany is sort of floundering. She’s at the beginning of her adult life, but she’s having trouble making a go of it.

Brittany is able to, more or less, ignore her slump. Until she goes to a doctor. At the visit, the doctor suggest she lose a significant amount of weight. 

This suggestions forces Brittany to look at all the other unhealthy aspects of her life. 

Tired of being tired, Brittany decides to dip her toes into getting healthy. 

She begins by visiting a gym. But when she finds out the price, she opts to run instead. Because that’s free. 

…It would not be right to say that Brittany takes to running. In fact, she’s not much of a runner. But, without any other options, she sticks with it.

In the process, Brittany forms a circle friends to support and encourage her. 

And they’re the ingredient that makes the whole enterprise work!

Slowly, Brittany gets more and more comfortable running. Little by little, she even begins to lose weight, too!

This experience of succeeding after so many years of failing, boosts Brittany’s self-esteem. And it carries over to the rest of her life, too! 

She takes her job more seriously and even begins dating. 

The momentum builds on itself so steadily that Brittany decides she can run a marathon! And for a while everything goes to plan. Brittany keeps wracking up those miles, and crushing life, too! 

As she progresses, though, another side of Brittany develops. One that only focuses on her goals. One that sidelines her friends to pursue her own ambitions. One that is resistant to receive help from anyone else…

Eventually, this side of Brittany sidelines all her efforts!

Here’s how it happens; Brittany gets close to hitting her goal weight. But, as so often happens, those last few pounds are hard to go. 

So, one night Brittany goes on an extra run to burn off those final stubborn pounds. When she finishes, she goes right to the scale. But, she’s hasn’t hit her goal.

So, she goes out, again!

Upon finishing that run, she goes right back to the scale. BUT, those pound are still there! So, she goes out, again…

Only this time, you can tell her foot is bothering her. Determined to lose those last pounds, though, Brittany powers through.

…And, in the process, injures herself. 

She goes to the doctor. And when he tells her she’ll have to take a significant break from running, Brittany’s world collapses. 

Not only will she not be able to run the marathon, she’s also afraid her new found life will unravel…

…You ever been there? I know I have.

In fact, it’s this very anxiety that keeps us from understanding the very straight-forward actions of Jesus today.

We, like Brittany, think our success, our health, our future, and ultimately even our salvation hang on our shoulders. Don’t we?

Deep down we all fearfully believe it’s up to us. 

So when Jesus shows up willy-nilly forgiving and healing someone with little to no effort on their part, we don’t know what to do!

…Which is right where Jesus wants you.

…Here’s how Brittany Runs a Marathon ends; Brittany begins to heal, and slowly starts running again. Good friends that she has, they come to her side once more. 

After another year, Brittany finally gets the chance to run the marathon she has so desperately longed for!

Only, in the last leg of the race, the triumphant ending Brittany has been dreaming about, her foot begins to pain her again!

She tries to ignore it, but the pain is too much. She slows to a walk. Then, a halt. The fear of not finishing visible all over Brittany’s face.

A volunteer comes over to Brittany to check on her, and Brittany tells her about her pain. The volunteer asks Brittany if she needs to quit. 

Right at that moment Brittany sees her friends, and the agony of the decisions washes over her all over her again. 

The volunteer asks Brittany again if she needs to quit, and Brittany says…

She says…

…Well, I guess I won’t spoil it for you, after all! 

Because for the purposes of this sermon, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter!

What matters, and what makes Brittany Runs a Marathon such a fine film, is what the experience of being sidelined taught Brittany, she doesn’t need to do it on her own! No one asked her to!

And it’s that’s how it us for us and our lives, too! Especially the life of faith.

Faith is upside-down and antithetical to the way of the world. It doesn’t run by us and our efforts. It runs on account of Jesus, and what he has done!

In Jesus and his words, like “your sins are forgiven,” we have been promised Jesus himself has taken the weight of the world squarely upon his shoulders!

And all faith does is passively RECEIVE this, and take shelter under it!

God has not asked you to bear the weight of the world! In fact, God has even commanded you not to try! 

That’s the First Commandment. No other gods, not even yourself…

What’s more, though, is Jesus has already won the health, healing and wholeness we so long for by his death on the cross!

When Jesus declared that paralyzed man forgiven, Jesus was declaring what only he had the authority to do!

Jesus, by his death, took the weight of the world upon himself, and died by it. 

In his resurrection, he is risen to new life on the other side of that old life! 

And, on account of his mercy, he simply turns around and declares that new life is yours as you sit there like a bump on a log doing nothing!

The paradoxical key to attaining this life isn’t more effort, but less! Ideally, none! 

To be so passive you are no different than the paralyzed man! Simply laying there, carried before the one who plays fast and loose with God’s grace!

Faith is not a mater of ginning up your will! It’s simply a matter of receiving all God has assured you, and Jesus has come to give you! 

No one asked you to bear the weight of the world, and in Jesus you don’t need to anyway! Because in Jesus Christ that old life of has been left in the grace!

And, trying to bear those old burdens is like trying to force new wine into old wineskins, or sewing a patch on unshrunk cloth unto an old cloak! It just won’t work! God’s mercy will tear through and meet you, anyway!